The Second Millenium

[Vince53]

Welcome to 1523!

Clement VII begins his eleven year reign as Pope.

A politically powerful, skilled diplomat who lived a worldly life, Clement had conspired for some time to gain the Papacy for himself. But he badly bungles international diplomacy, getting himself involved in changing military alliances. Calling for evangelism through force of arms, if necessary, he keeps the Catholic Church so bogged down in wars with Catholic nations that he can do little to stop the Protestants.

He was arrested and Rome was pillaged so badly that the Roman Renaissance came to an end. He escaped after six months, returning to a devastated city of Rome. He refused to annul Henry VIII's marriage to his brother's widow, thus provoking the English Reformation. When he died, he left a shattered Catholic Church behind him.

 

[Vince53]

We're back in 1523.

Some desperate nuns, wanting to escape the nunnery their families had sent them to, secretly contact Martin Luther for help. He gets a local fish merchant to make his regular delivery to the nunnery, allowing the escapees to hide in his wagon as he leaves. But now Luther is stuck with a bunch of nuns. He finds husbands for all but one, so he finally marries Katherine von Bora. And yes, they live happily ever after.

The Kalmar Unión breaks apart when Sweden becomes independent. At its height, it included Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, and Greenland.

After capturing longe-range naval cannon, China begins manufacturing their own.

The Catholic Church burns two Augustinian monks at the stake for refusing to recant Lutheranism. And thus, Johann Esch and Heinrich Voes become the first Protestant martyrs.

 

[Vince53]

1524 is a very good year for Spain.

With 400 Indian allies, a small Spanish army massacres an 8,400 man Mayan army. After winning a few more battles, the Spanish allow the Maya to surrender and then burn their leaders at the stake. The Maya Empire had already collapsed, but some small Mayan kingdoms remained.

A French expedition discovers Manhattan Island and New York.

A Spanish army in Italy defeats the French so badly that they withdraw from Italy.

With thousands of Mayan allies, Spain's small army in Central America defeats the Pipils. Survivors of the Toltecs (who had ruled central America and Southern Mexico before the Maya), the Pipils were subserviant to their nobles, who owned all the land and made up the entire army. Unskilled in combat, the Pipil wore cotton armor about three inches thick, but were so slowed down by the weight that the Spanish easily massacred them.

After withdrawing, France invades Italy again.

 

[Vince53]

Sakes alive; it's 1525!

In Switzerland, the Anabaptists baptize each other, rejecting a state church and demanding that every member must be born again. For the next two centuries, they will be persecuted by both Catholics and Protestants.

Spain defeats France in a battle in Italy and captures their King. The King agrees to drop all French claims to Milan and Naples, but after being released, renounces all his promises.

After killing about 200,000 poorly-armed peasants, the Holy Roman Empire ends the Peasant Revolt. While objecting to the mistreatment of the peasants, Martin Luther opposed the revolt.

 

[Vince53]

1526 is a rough year for Islam.

A combined Turkish, Persian, and Mongolian army uses cannons and firearms to smash a Moslem army five times its size, thus beginning the Mugdal Empire in northern India. Using economic policies designed to strengthen the peasants and minority groups, the Empire rapidly expands through India as its loyal citizens support their Emperor. With the death of their greatest ruler in 1707, however, the Empire is attacked on several fronts by rival Indian states, and it collapses in 1857.

After making peace with Spain and the Holy Roman Empire, France betrays them and unites with its former Italian enemies.

Nara II begins his 31 year reign as Emperor of Japan. If you have a long memory, you'll recall that Japan is impoverished from civil war. After putting down one rebellion, the Emperor has to sell his own drawings to make money.

Spain discovers the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean. After rule by Spain, Germany, Japan and the United States, the US grants them independence in 1986.

An Italian gunsmith founds Beretta, the oldest firearms company in the world. It is still owned by his family.

And, printed in Germany, William Tyndale's illegal English New Testament arrives in London. The Catholic Church rounds up as many as they can and burns them. Translated from Greek instead of Latin, Tyndale's New Testament will be followed by a translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew. Because roughly 75% of the King James Versión is taken directly from his translation, William Tyndale is the most widely-read writer in the world.

 

[Vince53]

1527 is now onstage.

Starving troops in northern Italy force their leaders to lead them in an attack on Rome. The forces consist of French, Italian, German, Holy Roman Empire, Papal States, and bandits. Although most of the soldiers were Catholics, the German merceneries included a large number of Lutherans. They demolished Rome so badly that the High Renaissance came to an end.

In Switzerland, the Anabaptist movement spreads so rapidly that the Zúrich City Council executes Felix Manz for refusing to stop preaching. He is the first martyr killed by Protestants.

After winning three major battles, the Mogdul Empire controls most of northern India.

Newly-independent, Sweden adopts Lutheranism as the state religion.

Denmark stays Catholic, but grants freedom of religion to Lutherans and declares that the government will appoint high Catholic officials.

Losing badly to the Turks in the east, Hungary is invaded by the Holy Roman Empire on the west.

 

[Vince53]

1528

France is defeated twice by its former Italian allies, and Genoa declares itself independent.

Spain discovers the Spice Islands in the Pacific. Now part of Indonesia, the Spice Islands were never fully conquered. They were partly controlled by the Portuguese or Dutch at different times, were conquered by Japan in World War 2, and joined Indonesia in its successfu war of independence again the Netherlands.

The Black Plague and Sweating Sickness both break out in England.

 

[Vince53]

And now that it's 1529...

A massive Moslem army, that includes 200 riflemen, suffers such massive losses invading Ethiopia that they have to retreat, despite winning.

The Holy Roman Empire holds a meeting at Spires, Germany, and forbids any further advances by Lutherans and Anabaptists. Lutherans protest the decisión, and thus gain the name "Protestants." However, both Catholics and Protestants agree to allow the execution of Anabaptists.

Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York, convenes a Church court to rule on the marriage of Henry VIII to his brother's widow. Catherine of Aragon is childless, and Henry MUST produce a son to prevent civil war when he dies. Henry wants the marriage annulled because the Catholic Church forbad marrying your brother's wife; the Church had annulled that marriage, and now Henry claimed that the annulment was ilegal.

A French army in Italy gets beaten--again.

A Turkish army reaches Vienna but must turn back due to winter weather. This marks the high point of Turkish advance into Europe.

 

[Vince53]

1530 could be quite dirty.

Lutherans present their statement of faith to the Holy Roman Emperor. Several German cities rapidly adopt it, the Emperor forbids it to be read publicly, they read it in public anyway, and Lutheranism is now roaring through Germany.

Both Rome and the Netherlands are hit by massive floods.

 

[Vince53]

1531 is a rough year for Protestants,

Ulrich Zwingli was a Swiss Reformer who split with the Lutherans and who persecuted both Anabaptists and Catholics. He organized the Protestant Swiss cantons (states) into a military league and started an unprovoked war against the Catholic cantons. He was killed in battle, and Martin Luther attributed his death to Divine wrath.

Lutheran princes in Germany begin uniting in a military league to protect themselves against the Holy Roman Empire, to which they belonged. The strictly Lutheran league grew steadily for fifteen years before being forced to accept a negotiated peace after being defeated in battle. But the league accomplished its goal, firmly establishing Lutheranism in Germany.

An invading Moslem army, using cannon, defeats an Ethiopian army eight times its size.

The Spanish invade and conquer Puna, a large South American island. Puna was a tributory state to the Inca Empire, and the Spanish planned to use the island as an invasion base. But the Puna revolt and get slaughtered; then the Spanish resume storing supplies for the invasion.

Thousands of Portuguese are killed in an earthquake.

Halley's Comet appears.

 

[Vince53]

1532 is a bad year for the Incas.

With the Spanish aproaching from more than one direction, the mighty Inca Empire of Peru has been gripped in a civil war. After about 35,000 Incas are killed in a major battle, the civil war ends.

A month later, a Spanish army lands in Peru. Peru had beaten the Spanish twice before, but seven months after landing, the Spanish win a major battle and capture the Inca Emperor. The Emperor had been invited to a peace conference, where the Spanish launched a surprise attack that slaughtered thousands of the Emñperor's unarmed attendants.

Parliament orders the Church of England to stop making payments to Rome.

Still married to Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII secretly marries Anne Boleyn, a Court attendant who is the sister of Henry's mistress. An intellignet, well-educated Protestant, Anne will help shape the Protestant Reformation in England.

 

[Vince53]

1533 is a rough year for the Incas and legitimate wives.

Henry VIII's marriage to Anne Boleyn is publicly announced, and three monthss later, his marriage to Catherine of Aragon is annulled.

Leviticus 20:21 tells us If a man takes his brother's wife, it is an unclean thing. He has uncovered his brother's nakedness. They shall be childless. In light of other Scriptures tellling us that death ends a marriage and that a man is commanded to marry his brother's widow, this difficult verse is usually interpreted to mean that she is his brother's wife only if he is alive. If he is dead, she is no longer his wife. In that case, the marriage to Catherine was legal.

A week later, the Archbishop of Canterbury crowns Anne as Queen of England. Several weeks later, the Pope excommunicates Henry and the Archbishop. A few months later, Anne gives birth to the future Queen Elisabeth.

The captured Inca Emperor gives the Spanish a roomfull of treasure, piled as high as the Emperor could reach. And then the Spanish execute him. They appoint his brother Emperor, but he dies a few weeks later.

 

[Vince53]

Welcome to 1534

Paul III begins his successful fifteen year Papacy. Taking the lead in the devastated city of Rome, Paul was the right man (from the Catholic viewpoint) who arrived too late.
With four illegitimate children, he quickly appinted his grandsons as cardinals. One of them was fourteen and another was sixteen. He issued a Papal Bull condemning the enslavement of American Indians, but backed down a year later under pressure from Spain.
Part of the problem is that leadership is a self-feeding system. Competent people get leadership positions and gain experience in leadership. But the Catholic Church was so corrupt that its most competent leaders were usually corrupt themselves.
Paul cracked down vigorously on Church corruption and tried to reason with Martin Luther through diplomats who met with the Protestant Reformer personally. Luther was willing to negotiate, but he demanded that the Catholic Church go farther than it was willing to go.
Paul assisted the Holy Roman Emperor in waging successful warfare against Protestant rulers in Germany, but he could not stop the Reformation. The two had a falling out, and Protestantism in Germany continued to grow.

 

[Vince53]

We return to 1534.

French explorer Jacques Cartier explores the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River encountering the Native Americans of the region. He was trying to find a passageway through the Americas to Asia. (Yes, there is such a passageway, among the northern Canadian islands, but it is frozen most of the time.) He used the Indian name for "settlement" to give Canada its name.

A civil war begins in the Holy Roman Empire when Anabaptists seize the city of Munster. They exile dissenters and forcé mass baptisms on the population. A few months later, the Empire is able to send an army to besiege the city.

After recognizing the marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Parliament declares that Henry is the supreme ruler of the Church of England, cancelling all Papal authority.

The entire Luther Bible, including the Apocrypha, is printed in German.

 

[Vince53]

1535 is a bad year for Anabaptists and Moslems.

Anabaptists attempt several small and unsuccessful rebellions in the Netherlands. Meanwhile, the Holy Roman Empire recaptures Munster from the Anabaptists.

William Tyndale is imprisoned for having translated the Bible into English.

The Ottoman Empire had captured Tunis, a major seaport in north Africa. They assembled a large fleet for attacking Europe, when Spain, assisted by several Catholic allies, attacked first. Spain sank the entire Ottoman fleet, captured Tunis, and massacred about 30,000 civilians.

 

[Vince53]

We return to 1535 to answer the question: What kind of man is a Catholic martyr?

John Fisher was an absolutely uncorrupt Catholic bishop who also served as Chancellor of Cambridge University. He had preached the funerals of Henry VIII's father and grandmother, and he had briefly served as one of Henry VIII's tutors. He insisted that the priests under him be trained to preach to the public, and he publicly preached against Lutheranism.

Fisher preached against the corruption of the Catholic Church, but he was involved in the arrest, torture, and execution of Thomas Hitton, the first Protestant martyr of the English Reformation. He promoted the study of Hebrew and Greek at Cambridge, against the opposition of the Catholic Church. He defended Catherine of Aragon so strongly that Henry VIII never forgave him, and Fisher stated at the hearings that marriage is indissolvable, and he was prepared to die over it.

Imprisoned for appealing a Royal decree to the Pope, he was released and began plotting with the Holy Roman Empire to invade England and overthrow Henry VIII. But his public preaching against Henry's marriage to Anne Boleyn, along with his many public statements that the Pope, not Henry, was head of the Church of England, got him beheaded for treason. His head was displayed on a pike on London Bridge, but after two weeks of not decaying, the unnerved authorities threw it into the Thames.

 

[Vince53]

Drunk with the blood of the saints, the Catholic Church has a good year in 1536.

Jacob Hutter, an Anabaptist preacher who had never taken part in rebellion, is burned at the stake by the Catholic Church. Under severe torture, he refused to recant or reveal the names of other Anabaptists.

The Inquisition begins in Portugal. Focusing on Jews who had pretended to convert to Catholicism, it would eventaully persecute American Indians, Asian Moslems and Hindus, and Christian minorities in Asia.

The Catholic and Anglican Churches team up to execute Wiliam Tyndale, the Bible translator.
One anti-Christian scholar scornfully wrote that the King James Version (which is heavily based on Tyndale's translation) is covered with the blood of William Tyndale; this accusation is true.
"Be faythfull vnto the deeth and I will geve the a croune of lyfe." Revelations 2:10, Tyndale Translation

 

[Vince53]

We return to 1536 with a literary tribute to Henry VIII:

Henry VIII
King of friskers
Lost six wives
But kept his whiskers
He should have used
Burma Shave

Catherine of Aragon dies of natural causes, which is quite an accomplishment, considering whom she had been married to.

Anne Boleyn is beheaded for adultery, by order of Henry VIII. After giving birth to the future Queen Elizabeth, Anne suffered three miscarriages in rapid succession. Desperate for a son (to prevent civil war on Henry's death) the King started looking around and found Jane Seymour. Jane was charged with incest (sex with her brother), adultery, and witchcraft, on the testimony of tortured witnesses. There is no real evidence that any of the charges were true.

Eleven days after Anne's execution, Henry marries Jane Seymour. A kind, compassionate woman, she got Henry reconciled with his daughter Mary (whose mother was Catherine of Aragon) and treated Henry's other daughter Elizabeth well. Next year, she will give birth to Edward VI, but die eleven days later from complications. Although he would have three more wives, Henry chose to be buried next to her.

 

[Vince53]

1537 is quite a year for Henry VIII. He executes over 200 leaders of two unsuccessful Catholic rebellions. Then his wife gives birth to King Edward VI, who will prevent a civil war despite dying at age 16. But Jane Seymour dies eleven days after giving birth; Henry's grief is genuine, and he goes three years without remarrying.

As a Prince, Edward will have a fantastic adventure when he trades places with a look-alike beggar, and then can't get back into the palace. "The Prince and the Pauper" is a great book and a decent Walt Disney film, but it is totally fictional.

The potato, an American vegetable, is introduced to Europe.

 

[Vince53]

It's not too late for 1538!

The Holy Roman Empire makes peace with Turkey and France.

A fleet assembled by the Pope is defeated off northwestern Greece by the Turkish navy.

A Dominican seminary becomes the first university in the New World, lasting until 1823. It was located on a Caribbean island that is now part of the Dominican Republic.

A series of famines and epidemics begin in central and southeastern China, lasting about ten years. To make matters worse, a tidal waved destroys many of the crops in eastern China, leaving enough salt water behind to damage future crops for many years.